Helena weekly herald. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1867-1900, 1887-11-10
THE MUSEUM OF FRAUD.
SOME CURIOUS THINGS SEEN IN
THE MUSEE DE uOCTROi.

THE MUSEE DE L'OCTROi.
The Thousand and One Fraudulent Ways
by Which Smugglers Cheat the French
Governmental Sleepy valet-The Pea
SAINTS Pumpkin-The Mummy.
Most Parisians imagine they know all the
museums of their capital when once they
have visited the Louvre, the Luxembourg,
the Cluny, the photographic, to say nothing
of the Musee Grevin and the dioramas of the
foire de Neuilly! And yet there is a collec-
tion belonging to the state almost unknown,
and that very few have enjoyed the privilege
of seeing. 1t is the Musee de TOctroi, or,
more properly speaking, the museum of
fraud. 1t illustrates the thousand and one
fraudulent ways used by smugglers for cheat
ing the government.
Let us enter the museum. What a spec
taclel What an incongruous medley of
articles, many seemingly so out of place, and
yet all made for the same object-to rob the
state-and consequently the entity called "the
world and his wife"
Under the guidance of our cicerone we be-
gan an inspection of the curiosities about us,
and remarked with astonishment among them
an enormous block of white marble, which
must have required almost superhuman
strength to move, to say nothing of the cost.
We turned inquiringly to our guide, who
smiled and asked us to touch the block of
Carrara with our fingers. We obeyed, and
imagine our surprise to find that the enor-
nous mass weighed less than bundle of
feathersl Its history is as follows: A freight
train arriving one day from Italy and
carrying six squares of marble, a custom
house officer remarked an unusual indenta-
ton in one of them, and suspecting that
something was wrong, had the bright idea to
break off corner with the aid Of hammer,
when, miraclel the marble was sheet iron and
hid 5000 francs worth of Venice lacel
LOGS FOR THE FIRE.
Here in this corner is pile of logs, ready,
to all appearances, for the fire. Error. These
logs are of metal, cleverly covered with bark,
each end looking as if it had been sawn off.
They were found filled with cigars. Further
on rolls of linen; hit them with your cane,
the sharp metallic sound will prove that they
are simply cans for alcohol. Our guide now
drew our attention to a quantity Of dinner
plates, four dozen in each pile, only the upper
and under twelve being intact, the remaining
twenty-four having no bottom and fitted into
this long hole zinc can for spirits.
At this moment we pointed out to our
cicerone tall valet de piedsin full livery,
seated in one corner, his arms crossed, his
head sunk forward ON his chest, apparently
sound asleep. "Look at the doorkeeper," we
remarked; "the intense heat has overcome
him, and even our conversation has failed to
wake him." "Tap him on the shoulder" our
friend smiingly answered. We at once took
advantage of the suggestion, and could not
restrain a cry of horror, as the valet, losing
his equilibrium, rolled ON to the floor
"Do not be frightened" we were told.
"This mannequin has done good service by
introducing surreptitiously into the country
quantities of alcohol Feel him, he is made
of zinc, the head and hands only are made of
wax, and so perfectly initiated as to cheat
nature herself. To this cash in the skull we
owe the accident of his discovery and cap
ture.
"Look at these millstones," continued our
friend, they are tobacco boxes, and these
'tournures' are made of India rubber to hold
eau de vie. Admire this opulent breast
iii zinc. 1t added to the charms of
pseudo wet nurse, in reality perfect
copy of the skeleton woman, whose baby
IA rubber one) nourished itself off the eighteen
liters of brandy contained therein. That vest
there in the corner, made of baudruche (gold
beater's skim and spotted with blood, was
found on a poor devil of an engineer, killed
in collision of two trains. The poor fellow
couldn't even drink the liquor he was snug
Cling in"
POOR PARALYTIC.
"Guess the usage of these two bladders
fastened together with garters and this pair
of crutches"
"f haven't an idea of their use"
"It is very simple, however. A poor para
lytic, crawling slowly and painfully along,
with aid of these same crutches-hollow and
filled with tobacco-passed every day before
guards, carrying fifteen liters of wine, sub
ject to duty, under her skirts
GAS to this pumpkin-a present from an
octroi in Normandy-it passed to and fro
every morning for three months under the
noses of the 'octroyens,' among other vege-
tables, when its honest proprietor went to
market. Unfortunately the peasant omitted
to change his fraudulent vegetable at the end
of the pumpkin season, and it was discovered
one day filled with cider brandy"
As our interlocutor SPOKE we stopped much
puzzled before an ordinary looking coffin, on
which was pasted railroad bulletin.
"Ahl" said our friend suddenly, "you
notice that curious object from Marseilles?
During the cholera epidemic of 1884 the en-
ployes of the administration noticed a cart
on which was a coffin covered with heavy
pail pass the gate every day. The men un-
covered respectfully before this victim of the
terrible disease, and drew back, holding their
noses out of fear of the microbes. Time pass
ed, the cholera also, and still the cart with
its sad burden made its appearance daily and
at the same hour. This regularity aroused
suspicion at last, and the fear of contagion
having flown with the cause, one of the
guards lifted the pail and discovered, not a
corpse, but mummy composed of cigars"
But should never finish were l to attempt
description of all the curiosities to be seen
in the museum.-From the Paris Figaro,
by c. L. b
When is Halter Not Halter?
A well known halter was riding uptown
last night, and engaged with scholarly